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George Boxley (ca. 1780–1865)

George Boxley was an antislavery
leader who allegedly conspired to help slaves revolt in 1816. Born in Spotsylvania County, he farmed and ran a
general store and himself owned slaves. His motivations for turning against slavery in 1815 remain
unclear, although speculation has included everything from personal grievances to
religious delusions. Boxley's plans were exposed, a number of slaves were arrested,
and he turned himself in. What resulted was the largest prosecution for insurrection
between Gabriel's
Conspiracy in 1800 and Nat Turner's Revolt in 1831. With the help
of his wife, Boxley escaped jail and spent the next several years on the run,
outwitting bounty hunters. He finally settled in Hamilton County, Indiana, where he
died in 1865. MORE...

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Boxley was born about 1780 in Spotsylvania County, the son of a farmer, Thomas
Boxley. Very little is known about his family and early life. He farmed for a time,
operated a general store, and owned a tannery in Fredericksburg. On March 27, 1805, he married
Hannah Jenkins. They had at least seven children, perhaps as many as eleven. He paid
taxes on from three to eight slaves between 1801 and 1816, but in the latter year he
was described as being in "desperate circumstances."

Boxley served as an ensign in the militia during the War of 1812. By some accounts he was passed over for
promotion, and he reportedly also had political ambitions thwarted when he was forced
to defer to a member of a more prominent family. During the second half of 1815
Boxley began to conspire against slavery. Few observers agreed about his motivations
or even his deeds. Some people assumed that Boxley acted out of resentment for past
slights, some that he had become an abolitionist, some that he had become demented,
and some that religious delusions motivated him. He allegedly told people that God
had spoken to him through a white bird and convinced him of the evils of slavery.
Boxley spoke out against slavery and attempted to organize African Americans in
Spotsylvania and the neighboring parts of Louisa and Orange counties. He may have been trying either to
help slaves flee Virginia or to mount an armed campaign to free them, but before
anything took place his activities were exposed by a female slave. Boxley turned
himself in on February 27, 1816, and was charged with fomenting an insurrection.

At least twenty-seven slaves were arrested and
charged with complicity in Boxley's alleged uprising. In the largest prosecution for
insurrection in Virginia between the discovery of Gabriel's Conspiracy in 1800 and
Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, five slaves were executed, and six others were
sentenced to be transported out of Virginia. Boxley was ordered tried for capital
felony and stealing two slaves, but while he was awaiting trial his wife smuggled him
a file with which he sawed his way out of the Spotsylvania County jail and
escaped.

On November 13, 1816, Boxley executed a power of attorney in Washington County,
Pennsylvania, that enabled him to sell his two tracts of Spotsylvania County land
totaling 460 acres. During the next several years he moved from place to place in
Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. In 1818 the superior court in Spotsylvania County
outlawed Boxley after he again failed to appear for trial, and on several occasions
bounty hunters attempted to capture him and return him to Virginia. One took him
prisoner, but Boxley's friends rescued and released him.

In 1828 Boxley built a cabin north of
Indianapolis, Indiana. A nearby town was called Boxleytown and later Boxley. He
continued to speak out against slavery and also denounced banks, taxes, courts, and
government generally. He may have assisted people escaping from slavery, and his zeal
made him appear to fit the stereotype of the wild-eyed radical abolitionist, but he
also taught at one of the first schools in Hamilton County, Indiana. Boxley died at
his home on October 5, 1865, two months before the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment made
slavery illegal anywhere in the United States. He was buried in Boxley.